1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for clearly displaying positions of a destination point and waypoints of a movable object, and a present position thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique for specifying a position of a movable object which moves, such as a person, etc., in order to display a position of the specified movable object and positions of the destination point and waypoint of the movable object, has been in widespread usage.
In such a technique, generally, not only measured latitude and longitude of the object, but also positions of the object, which are obtained by referring to the measured latitude and longitude, are displayed with the destination point and waypoint as needed on a map display. In a case where no destination point or no waypoint is displayed, in order to show a positional relationship between the destination point or waypoint and the movable object, values representing the direction and distance from the movable object to the destination point or waypoint are displayed.
In a case where there are a plurality of waypoints, the display contents have been when the movable object approaches a given distance away from one of the waypoints, and the direction and distance from the movable object to the approached waypoint has been newly displayed.
However, according to such a technique, the positions of the movable object can be displayed only with reference to the direction and distance from the object to just a certain waypoint. Thus, a positional relationship of three points (for example, the positional relationship of an already-passed waypoint, a to-be-passed waypoint and the position of the movable object) can not be accurately recognized.
In a case where the plurality of waypoints are set at short intervals, a target waypoint referred for displaying the positional relationship of the movable object and the waypoint is changed, when the movable object slightly moves. Therefore, it is difficult to recognize that the displayed direction and distance are meant to be the direction and distance from the movable object to which one of waypoints. This creates a problem that information is disorderly transmitted.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above, an object thereof is to provide a position display device, a position display method and a storage medium for clearly displaying a positional relationship of at least three points among which the movable object moves.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is realized a position display device, which can continuously and clearly display a positional relationship of at least three points, comprising:
display means for displaying a positional relationship between a movable object which moves and a plurality of waypoints, which the movable object is estimated to pass;
waypoint storage means for storing waypoint information representing positions of the plurality of waypoints and order in which the movable object sequentially passes the waypoints;
movable-object-position obtaining means for obtaining position information representing a present position of the movable object;
zone specifying means for specifying a zone including at least two waypoints which the movable object is estimated to continuously pass, and for generating zone information representing the specified zone, based on the waypoint information stored in the waypoint storage means; and
display controlling means for controlling a waypoint symbol expressing at least two waypoints included in a zone including the present position of the movable object and a present position symbol expressing the present position of the movable object to be displayed on a display screen of said display means, based on the zone information which the zone specifying means generates and information representing the present position of the movable object which the movable-object-position obtaining means obtains.
According to another aspect of this invention, there is realized a position display method for displaying a positional relationship between a movable object and a plurality of waypoints which the movable object is estimated to pass on a display screen of display means, and for continuously and clearly displaying a positional relationship of at least three points, comprising:
a waypoint storage step of storing waypoint information representing positions of the plurality of waypoints and order in which the movable object sequentially passes the plurality of waypoints;
a movable-object-position obtaining step obtaining position information representing a present position of the movable object;
a zone specifying step of specifying a zone including at least two waypoints which the movable object is estimated to continuously pass, and for generating zone information representing the specified zone, based on the waypoint information stored in the waypoint storage step; and
a display controlling step of controlling a waypoint symbol expressing at least two waypoints included in a zone including the present position of the movable object and a present position symbol expressing the present position of the movable object to be displayed on a display screen, based on the zone information which is generated in the zone specifying step and information representing the present position of the movable object which is obtained in the movable-object-position obtaining step.
According to sill another aspect of the present invention, there is realized a computer readable storage medium which stores programs making a computer, which is connected to movable-object-position detecting means for detecting a position of a movable object which moves and position information representing the detected position, functions as:
waypoint storage means for obtaining and storing waypoint information representing positions of the plurality of waypoints and order in which the movable object sequentially passes the plurality of waypoints;
movable-object-position obtaining means for obtaining position information representing a present position of the movable object;
zone specifying means for specifying a zone including at least two waypoints which the movable object is estimated to continuously pass, and for generating zone information representing the specified zone, based on the waypoint information stored in the waypoint storage means; and
display controlling means for controlling a waypoint symbol expressing at least two waypoints included in a zone including the present position of the movable object and a present position symbol expressing a present position of the movable object to be displayed on a display screen of said display means, based on the zone information which the zone specifying means generates and information representing the present position of the movable object which the movable-object-position obtaining means obtains.
According to further aspect of the present invention, there is realized a position display device, which can continuously and clearly display a positional relationship of at least three points, comprising:
display means for displaying a positional relationship between a position of a movable object which moves and a plurality of waypoints or a destination point which the movable object is estimated to pass;
waypoint storage means for storing waypoint information representing positions of the plurality of waypoints or destination point and order in which the movable object sequentially pass the plurality of waypoints or the destination point;
position obtaining means for obtaining position information representing a position of the movable object;
zone specifying means for specifying a zone including at least two waypoints which the movable object is estimated to pass, based on the waypoint information stored in the waypoint storage means and the position information representing a present position of the movable object which the position obtaining means obtains; and
display controlling means for controlling symbols expressing at least two waypoints included in the zone including the present position of the movable object and a symbol expressing the present position of the movable object to be displayed on an identical display screen of the display means, based on the zone which the zone specifying means specifies.
According to still further aspect of the present invention, there is realized a position display device, which can continuously and clearly display a positional relationship of at least three points, comprising:
display means for displaying a positional relationship between a position of a movable object which moves and a plurality of waypoints or a destination point which the movable object is estimated to pass;
waypoint storage means for storing positions of the plurality of waypoints or destination point and waypoint information representing order in which the movable object sequentially passes the waypoints;
position obtaining means for obtaining position information representing the position of the movable object;
zone specifying means for specifying a zone including at least two waypoints, based on the waypoint information stored in the waypoint storage means; and
display controlling means for controlling the position information of the movable object which is obtained by the position obtaining means, the zone specified by the zone specifying means, symbols expressing at least two waypoints and a symbol expressing a present position of the movable object to be displayed on a display screen of the display means.
According to yet still further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a position display device comprising:
a display unit having a display screen;
a memory;
an input device which includes user-operable portions and inputs waypoint information representing positions of the plurality of waypoints and order in which the movable object sequentially passes the plurality of waypoints;
a GPS device, including a receiver which receives signals from GPS satellites and obtains position information representing a position of the movable object based on the received signals;
a controller, which is connected to the display unit, the memory, the input device, and the GPS device, stores the waypoint information input by the input device into the memory, specifies a zone including at least two waypoints which the movable object is estimated to continuously pass, generates zone information representing the specified zone, based on the waypoint information stored in the memory, and controls the display unit to display a waypoint symbol expressing at least two waypoints included in a zone including the present position of the movable object and a present position symbol expressing the present position of the movable object, based on the zone information and information representing the present position of the movable object which the GPS device obtains.